Skift Take
Businesses can’t resist the opportunities that a new frontier brings. In the case of Saudi Arabia, however, the gamble they take is whether tourists will actually go, given the kingdom’s poor image. The adage "build and they will come" is being tested.
An opaque kingdom wants to become transparent. Saudi Arabia is both reviled and revered — hated by many for checking all the boxes on human rights abuses and worshipped by Muslims as custodian of their holiest places.
The opening of a new destination is almost always greeted as a triumph. Not this one, where there’s been an outpouring of skepticism and scorn over the duality of its aims.
Scoffers see that, beneath the goals of reducing oil dependence and mirroring neighboring Dubai as a tourism hub, lurk motives such as ridding the ghost of murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi that still haunts after a year and presenting a more benign image of itself to the world. Most recent measures include allowing unmarried foreign couples to rent hotel rooms and loosening strict dress code for female travelers.
In business, however, the practicalities of learning about opportunities in a new frontier duck uncomfortable concerns.
Some 400 government and business leaders, including 50 members of the World Travel & Tourism Council, attended a glitzy event marking “Saudi Open Hearts Open Doors” on September 27 in Diriyah, a town on the outskirts of the Saudi capital, Riyadh. Hosted by the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage, the invitation included a three-day bespoke tour of the kingdom designed to showcase hidden attractions and investment potential to about 45 VIPs, half of them World Travel & Tourism Council members including Carnival Corp., VFS Global, and Panorama Group Indonesia.
Collaborations have been sealed and, over time, more are expected to be inked. Oyo Hotels & Homes, funded by Saudi’s sovereign fund, Public Investment Fund, and SoftBank Vision Fund, unsurprisingly stepped up plans in the kingdom. On September 27, it signed an agreement to invest $1.1 billion (SAR4 billion) to build luxury and midscale hotels across the kingdom, its region's head for Saudi Arabia, Manu Midha, told Skift.
Since its entry in February, Oyo has flagged 130 hotels with 6,500 rooms in 14 cities in Saudi Arabia, but these are largely budget accommodations, not luxury. It will also set up two Oyo Skills Institutes, in Riyadh and Jeddah, to train Saudi nationals in hotel management.
The World Travel & Tourism Council signed a partnership with the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage on September 27 to “harness the experience and richness of our membership in supporting Saudi Arabia’s goal to be a top-fi
